Poor Social Skills

Here it is...the beginning of my 9th year in nursing.  My oh my has it changed in 9 years.  When I think back to my first couple of years compared to now...it is beyond ridiculous all the responsibilities piled onto the nursing staff.  We do the jobs of doctors, pharmacists, respiratory techs, phlebotomists, housekeepers, waitresses, customer service reps, people pleasers, ass kissers...you name it, we are probably somehow responsible for it or will be.  The question I have is...when do we get to be nurses???

I blame the govt for a lot of these changes.  That stupid survey patients...I mean "customers" get after their stay at a hospital.  If they don't answer every question with "always", it is like they are answering "never."  It is impossible to make everyone happy ALL of the time while they are in the hospital.  No longer does it matter that we helped them get better or maybe even saved their life.  The survey doesn't ask that.  It asks if their room was clean enough or if the hallways were quiet enough or if the nurses communicated enough or if they learned every side effect of every medication they were given.  Did the doctor communicate enough?  We always seem to fail in that category.

Anyways, that isn't my grievance right now.  It is a survey written by the govt...we are expected to fail.  I only wish we could take a survey in regards to whether we are satisfied with our govt & if they don't receive the answer "always"...that they too fail & have to give us money back.  

My grievance is with my manager.  She's a kind, wonderful person...but she is lacking in social skills.  I'm not even sure if she realizes how rude she sounds, but she is killing our unit morale.  And even though she has an "open door policy"...no one dares to try to correct her because we don't want to be on her bad side.  She's been in this position a little over a year, so I realize the stress is probably eating her alive.  I've decided to just let everything in one ear & out the other.  Until she sits me down & speaks to me one on one about something "I" have done...I'm not gonna let her stress be contagious to me.  That's the thing about admin...rather than going to the source of the problem or complaint, they lump us all in & tell us it is all our fault & that we need to correct it.  Ummmmm, go directly to the source please & leave the rest of us who are doing our jobs correctly alone.  

Ok, enough of me being Debbie Downer.  I am starting my 9th year.  Wow, just wow!  There are still moments when I wonder how the heck did I even venture into nursing.  I am grateful for whatever led me down this path.  I am self sufficient.  I have a flexible schedule.  I refuse to get burnt out.  I am balancing work with home life.  I seem to have it together...so far...this year.  It's only January...so we shall see how the rest of the year goes.

This past weekend I went to two concerts.  Justin Bieber on Friday night and Luke Bryan on Saturday night.  I only went to Bieber because my 16 yr old niece loves him & I was able to fulfill a wish of my best friend's 10 yr old daughter.  She had no clue we were going & only told her as we were standing in front of the arena.  She broke down into tears.  Such raw emotion...so sweet.  I think it is something I never will forget.  As much as I really can't stand the Bieb, seeing those two girls smiles was well worth it.  That & knowing 24 hrs later I'd be seeing my favorite singer in the whole wide world........LUKE BRYAN!!!!!!  

I knew he'd make it to the big league when I saw him for the first time 2 years ago.  Now he's headlining his own tour & it seems to be selling out at every venue.  He is well worth every dime & his tickets are like half the price of everyone else.  He is simply amazinggggggggggg!!!!!!!!

I have started a little side business on Ebay, but I don't think it is going to last very long.  I got some really good deals on clothing from Victoria's Secret...so I put some up for auction.  I've made a little money, but I'm not sure it is worth the aggravation of waiting for people who won the auction to actually pay, pack things up for shipping & all that jazz.  Part of me says just take it all back to the store & give up...but I'll give it another week & see what happens.

Happy New Year everyone...sorry it's a little late.  :)